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{
    "id": 88214,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/88214/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 343,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ms. Mbarire",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Tourism",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 78,
        "legal_name": "Cecily Mutitu Mbarire",
        "slug": "cecily-mbarire"
    },
    "content": " Thank you Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion and I want to begin at the outset by congratulating the Mover of this Motion, hon. Chanzu, for seeing it fit to bring it to the floor of the House. I stand here as a beneficiary of the HELB and I am very sure had I not had the opportunity to get access to loans to do my university education, I probably would not be standing here as a Member of Parliament. Therefore, I am standing first as a beneficiary who has paid back the loan and one who believes that this is a very important role that HELB plays and also, as an MP who has seen the number of university students who cannot access the loans. I want to begin by saying that this is a timely Motion. It is important that HELB gets more money from the Government to be able to give more loans to university students, especially now that we are having universities almost in every county where there is either one that has come up or is coming up. The major universities that we were aware of have now decentralized and moved to new places down to the villages. Therefore, university education is becoming readily accessible to many in the villages but we have the challenge of financing. As an MP, I want to say that the bursary fund that we get through CDF is far from adequate in terms of financing university education and especially so, for those students who have joined university under the parallel programme or private universities. Therefore, it is important that HELB money is tripled. I think it needs much more than they already have, so that we can have more university students accessing this money and we can have more children, especially those from poor families being able even to go for a diploma and after a diploma, a degree because now the universities are readily accessible to them at the grassroots level. I hope that the Ministry responsible and I see the Minister here, will take this Motion very seriously and give the young people the chance to access university education. With the promulgation of the new Constitution, I wish to remind this House that the Constitution says that the youth have a right to training and employment. Therefore, to make this possible, having HELB being able to give financial services to university students, will ensure that this right becomes a reality. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}